42nd Street "Shinbusters"

[LDSFX]

I am doing this show in about 3 weeks, and I am wondering if anyone has ever done this show and what they have used for the "shinbusters" in the "Shadow Waltz" number?

[Scooter]

we put to really old fresnels on bar stools with wheels. then, took out all the guts inside, put a huge flashlight inside, and wired them to a switch that a ctor could turn on on stage.

[Foxinabox10]

We attached a fresenel with a one foot sidearm to a spotlight stand and had people wheel them out and move them back and forth from the pit.

[moojoe]

we had outlets on stage wired to dimmers, and took fresnels with btl lamps, put them on bars that people could hold (just a small peice of wood), had the people wear gloves, and just bring those out.

[Inaki2]

Those sound really amusing. Lots of cool things for giving an actor a lighting fixture.

I'd proably use LEDs today

[ricc0luke]

ok... different show, but I used shinbusters once...

they lived up to their name... especially since the actors had never seen them before this show...

ours weren't on stage though... they were off just behind the legs on each side of the stages...

I took the c-clamps off and made a little mount for them out of 2x4 and then the mount was anchored to the floor...

it was also convient because we don't have color scrollers... but I was able to use the back stage crew as my human color scrollers switching the gel frames in between scenes... it worked...

oh... and I ended up basicly coating the lights with glo-tape... 500w BTL Fresnels...

The whole arrangement worked pretty well and after a week and a half of rehearsal the actors were used to the lights so by the opening of the show no one was hitting them...

[cutlunch]

I have seen this done in an amatuer production I helped rigging lights for. I am not sure how big your stage is. For this production old footlights ( compartment battens) were placed at the front of the stage. The dancers were lying on the floor near them so the shadows projected up onto the back cloth. This was the main lighting for this scene and worked great. You may have some old footlights (compartment battens) lying around or some local theatre group or supplier will. They don't have to be new style. We used the old incandescent bulb type that worked just fine.

[jonhirsh]

Do you mean Zip Strips or min strips.?

jh

[Inaki2]

I do't know what exactly the scene calls for, so I can't be of much help. If I get the gist of it though, you need some large shadows projected?

In Les Miz, we had some tiny floodlights that were used in the prostitutes' scene to project huge shadows on the back. I can't remember what they were exactly (I was actually in the sound team, and of all the toys we had, floodlights seemed kinda dumb )

[cutlunch]

Originally Posted by jonhirsh

Do you mean Zip Strips or min strips.?

jh

I had to look up what Zip lights are. I have never used them and don't know how bright they would be. But this is the sort of fitting I am talking about. Although I am thinking of ther older versions, used to be called footlights or ground rows, or batten lights. The ones we used had 150W incasndescent bulbs in them.

All you need is something strong enough to project a good shadow. Depending on the number of circuits in the batten you may be able to use a colour wash as well.